Control Of Relief To Foreign Brethren.

CONTROL OF RELIEF TO FOREIGN BRETHREN .

MUCH has recently been said as to the advantage or otherwise of continuing the present system of appointing Grand Eepresentatives near Slater Grand Lodges , and in our issue of 23 rd May 1895 we quoted words of the Grand Master of Pennsylvania , as follows : —

" My experience as an Officer of the Grand Lodge leads me to the conclusion that the system of Grand Representatives has outlived its usefulness . In the early days , when mail facilities were meagre and transportation slow , a representative near another Grand Lodge might have been of some use , as a means of inter-communication and as prompter of fraternal relations , but now , in the closing decade of the nineteenth century , with

rapid railroad trains and instantaneous communication by telegraphy , this need disappears . The Committee on Foreign Correspondence in their report submit that the Grand Representative system is detrimental to the perpetuity of fraternal relations between Grand Lodges , and is wholly unnecessary as a factor in Grand Lodgo inter-communication , and , further , that the system itself has demonstrated that instead of being a promoter of harmony amongst Grand Lodges it has been an element of discord . "

Notably the States of Iowa and Pennsylvania have done away with the system altogether , but this result has been , we think , because no proper understanding of the duties and possibilities of the office have been considered . It must be remembered that only a few of the Grand Lodges of America entertain the opinions held by Iowa and Pennsylvania , while the

immense majority of Sister Grand Lodges adopt the system , and have great advantages in the correspondence and mutual good effected , particularly in the interests of Freemasons removed to other lands , and through this circular representation afforded timely help . In our last issue we published a list of the names of those Grand Eepresentatives in Victoria of Sister Grand

Lodges , who attended the recent great festival in Melbourne , and at all similar functions in Sydney there has been a good roll call . But the Grand Eepresentative system , as we use it , practically begins and ends with these attendances , and with the formal presentation of "patents" and sometimes of "jewels of office , "

at the Quarterly Communication of each Grand Lodge . We were recently favoured by P . M . Bro . Peter Gosling Assist . Grand Secretary and Secretary of Lodge No . 76 ( Duke of Manchester , Melbourne ) , with the following correspondence addressed to that Lodge : —

MASONIC BOARD OF RELIEF . This Board of Relief is composed of the Masters or Representatives of the sixteen Lodges holding concurrent jurisdiction in San Francisco . Said Lodges to contribute to but draw nothing from the funds under the control of the Board , Sojourning Master Masons , their widows and orphans being alone recipients of its charities . Money refunded is again given to the needy of our Order .

Office of the Secretary , Masonic Temple , San Francisco , Cal ., 27 th April 1896 . To the Master or Secretary , of Duke of Manchester Lodge , No . 76 , F . and A . M ., Melbourne , Australia . DEAB SIR AND BBOTHEE ,

of your Lodge is here , and without money . This Board of Relief has assisted him to the extent of twelve dollars , and will be called upon to render further assistance to the Brother . "Will your Lodge kindly remit this amount , and afc the same time let us know what your Lodge would advise us to do in similar cases where a Brother of your Lodge applies to this Board for assistance , and greatly oblige , Yours truly and fraternally , C . C . HARE Secretary .

The report of the Masonic Board of Belief of the City of San Francisco , 1895 , in enclosed . This gives in elaborate detail , Eeceipts , Expenditure , and names of Lodges and of persons assisted . We cull the following particulars : — Balance in Treasury , 30 th Sept . 1894 . ... ... dols . 161-93

Received from assessment upon the city Lodges ... 3 , 133-23 „ Grand Lodge ... ... ... 4 , 000-00 „ Sundry Donations ... ... ... 75 - 00 ,, Repayments for Relief to Applicants , California 1 , 088-25 „ ,, ,, from other Jurisdictions 3 , 118-10 „ Interest amounting to ... ... 2 , 231-40

Total receipts for the year ... ... ... 13 , 807-91 From which deduct the expenditure of the year ... 13 , 270-25 and there remains a balance in the Treasury of dols . 537-66 Of the foregoing , the sum of 11 , 515-40 dols . was disbursed for the relief of the sick and distressed—there was expended

For Masons of the Jurisdiction of California ... ... dols . 786-80 „ of other Jurisdictions ... ... ... 4 , 743-30 For the Wives , Widows and Orphans of Masons of California 2 , 123-00 ,, ,, ,, ,, of other Jurisdictions ... 3 , 640-60 For Sundry unclassed ... ... ... ... 221-70

Making the total relief as above of dols . 11 , 515-40 The expenditures above enumerated do not include any outlay for members of Lodges of the city of San Francisco , or for their wives , widows or children , as the Lodges of this City provide for thoir own destitute or distressed .

Control Of Relief To Foreign Brethren.

Among a list of Brethren buried with Masonic honours we find the name on 26 th January of Eugenio Bianchi , last a member of Judah , No . 388 , Melbourne , Australia . In another column we find fifteen cases from New South Wales ( probably simply oeeause New South Wales was their port of departure from Australia ) , 508-30 dols ., and in another column Judah Lodge ,

No . 358 , New South Wales ( probably No . 388 , Vic ) , is credited with 4-50 dols . refunded . At first glance this application appears to be a somewhat paltry and half hearted way of giving relief , with the expectation of a possible return , but when it is considered that this returned money is not used for any selfish or local purpose , but again given to suffering Brethren , it has much to

recommend it . It will be observed that this Board of Belief does nothing for the local Lodges by which it has been inaugurated , and which support their own destitute and distressed Brethren . The sixteen Lodges of the City of San Francisco raise an annual revenue of a little over 5 , 000 dollars , and are assisted by the Grand Lodge to the extent of 4 , 000 dollars ; they meet all the

claims of their own members wilhout entrenching upon this fund ; they give away 3 , 000 dollars to Brethren , or wives , widows and orphans of Brethren , in the State of California , and receive again 1 , 000 dollars in repayment from the Lodges concerned , and they give nearly 5 , 000 dollars to Brethren of other Constitutions , and . get back 3 , 000 dollars , so that the Board becomes the actual

benefactor to the extent of 2 , 000 dollars to members of other Constitutions , and the Banker for those Constitutions to the extent of advances to 3 , 000 dollars per annum , the organisation , and the Grand Lodge which assists it , recognising that the city becomes the centre of attraction where relief must be disbursed for the larger proportion of destitute Brethren . We are not

without a somewhat similar organisation in these colonies , for the Ballarat Lodges have their local Benevolent Fund and Board foi disbursing relief , vote so much to its support , and the poor and needy are helped after due inquiry as this Board thinks fit . But if we apply this system as a comparison to local affairs we find the Grand Lodge of New South Wales reporting in June 1895

that its annual disbursements for relief had been £ 1 , 056 , and to Brethren of other Constitutions £ 233 , or more than 25 per cent ., and in 1896 its total disbursement to have been £ 1 , 105 3 s 7 d , of which £ 218 13 s 6 d , or 20 per cent , was to Brethren from other Constitutions . Victoria ¦ fails to furnish us with such a useful annual return , but dissecting the so-called quarterly returns

covering the period from May 1895 to May 1896 we find the sum of about £ 450 13 s 9 d given to Brethren of foreign Constitutions , out of a total of £ 1 , 262 16 s 4 d , or a fraction over thirtyfive per cent , of the donations . Now , if either of these Constitutions were to adopt the Californian system , not more than 300 letters per annum would require to be written to the

Lodges whose members have been relieved , and if the returns were in similar proportion to those of the San Francisco Board , they would receive back at least two-thirds , or 66 per cent , of their donations , which to New South Wales would be approximately £ 166 per annum , and to Victoria approximately £ 300 per annum , without incurring any appreciable increase of the expense

of Secretarial duties . There is very much , indeed , to be said in favour of this system , because it engenders a spirit of self-help and proper care of our own distressed Masons , though they may have drifted away from our immediate care and beyond the reach of their cable-tow . Within the last month an instance came under our notice , in which an already poor Brother had been

beggared by a speculation into which he had been led by deceitful representation . Application to the Benevolent Fund of his Lodge was suggested to the Secretary , with a proposition that he should reimburse the loan . The suggestion was not unkindly received , but the Secretary objected to any repayment , " for he could not see why the Lodge should be turned into a pawnshop . " Now

these , we think , were quite mistaken sentiments , for the spirit of self-help , independence , and repayment of debts should be studiously encouraged at every opportunity . This system of the San Francisco Board is an excellent example of the results from the practice of the principle . There may , and probably will be , the objection raised , that this system is unfair to Lodges , because

the poor Brethren may have drifted away from them in an unfinancial condition or as undeserving of help ; then we answer the San Francisco Board anticipates such a possibility and asks for advice in the event of the recurrence of such a case coming before them , and the Lodge applied to is as free to give or refuse to give back as if the application had come under its personal

notice and consideration in the first instance , besides which there is little doubt that a system , evidently so well managed as this is , will provide for searching examination as to the worthiness of the applicant and the genuineness of his case . We then come back to the premises of this article , and contend that if this Grand

Eepresentative business were properly organised , as it might easily be , instead of the office being a complete sinecure , such an application as this to the Duke of Manchester should come through the local representative of the Colonial Grand Lodge , and bear . he impress of his seal and recommendation . It is